The project is based on a joint initiative of innovation centres, science and technology parks and research centres, located in various regions of the Programme area. The activities, carried out by all partners, will focus on the implementation of a cross-border cluster for the production of highly innovative light sources, and their use for non-profit Research and Development in many important science and technology fields.
The total cost of the project is 2.810.946,50 € and the expected duration is four years. The project will be harmoniously developed at the premises of all partners. That will provide an opportunity to establish a strong and enduring connection between the centre of excellence at Sincrotrone Trieste, implemented on the project [email protected], and the new centre of excellence which will be achieved out at the University of Nova Gorica, with the funds provided by the Programme.
An abstract of the project activities and their timing.
- PRELIMINARY STUDIES AND SELECTION OF PERSONNEL: The activities will be targeted:
1) to define the characteristics of the light source carried out at the LP’s premises, the experimental chambers that will be installed below the (light) source and the one that will be carried out at the premises of PP1 (project [email protected]) and of the samples that will be measured through the use of both sources.
2) The definition and research of the staff to be recruited. Duration: 6 months since the start of the project.
- CONSTRUCTION, PURCHASE AND TESTING SUBSYSTEMS NECESSARY TO INSTALL THE LIGHT SOURCE; PREPARATION OF SAMPLES OF CHEMICAL INTEREST:
The activities will focus on construction and purchase by the project partners, of subsystems necessary to install the light source at the LP premises and at the PP1 experimental station, and the preparation of samples of chemical interest. Duration: 18 months since the end of the preliminary studies.
- INSTALLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE LIGHT SOURCE AT THE LP PREMISES:
The aim is to integrate the subsystems carried out or purchased during the previous phase, installing and characterizing of the source and testings of the samples of chemical interest.
Duration: 12 months from the end of the production, purchase and testing of subsystems.
- EXPERIMENTS FEMTOCHEMISTRY: The activities will focus on the achievement of the femtochemistry experiments at LP and PP1 premises.
Duration: 12 months since the end of the characterization of the source.
- MEETINGS: Periodic coordination meetings. Frequency: 2 months. Location: alternately at the premises of the Partners.
In addition to those mentioned above, the project will include a series of activities dedicated to the coordination and resource management, and dissemination of results. These activities have an equal duration to the project (48 months).
The highly innovative light source that will be built at the LP premises will be based on using a high power laser focused on a jet of gas: the interaction between the laser and the gas will generate light pulses of very short duration (tens of femtoseconds, 1 femtosecond = 10-15 seconds), at wavelengths "harmonics", submultiple of the laser ones (in the spectral range of X-rays).
The system also includes a monochromator to improve the spectral purity of the harmonic pulse and a system of optical transport and focusing of light. At the end of the source will be built an experimental chamber that will house the samples to be analyzed by the harmonic light, and some instruments, such as a spectrometer for analyzing the light and / or particles emitted from the sample as a result of the interaction between the sample and the same harmonic pulses.
The experimental chamber will be based on two prototypes: one will be used at the LP premises, while the other will be installed at the PP1 at the end of the free-electron laser [email protected] The free-electron laser is a light source that produces light pulses with complementary characteristics to those made of the pulses.
The use of light produced by the source described above will provide in a number of effects of high-impact science and technology, and ensuring at the same time, the promotion of the environmental protection (see Sec. C.4). The pioneering work of A.H. Zewail (Nobel Prize Chemistry 1999) has shown the possibility to study chemical processes exciting the reagent system with ultra-short laser pulses ("femtochemistry”). Until now, the use of conventional lasers, unable to produce X-rays, has severely limited the accuracy with which the chemical processes have been studied.
In addition to targets related to the indicators mentioned at the end of Sec. B.4, the project activities have in particular the aim of extending the range of the studies initiated by AH Zewail: the use of X-rays will allow the selective excitation (with a resolution never achieved before) of a particular atom within a molecule, adding to previous studies a better definition in mapping the steps of the energy transfer and chemical reactions of the sample.
The ability to use advanced light sources will be in the long period a great pole of attraction for many laboratories, research and training, universities and specialized SMEs (target groups), inside and outside the Programme-area, interested in many possible use of it: pharmacological use for photochemical activity (cancer therapy, disinfection of infected cells), electro-optic technologies use for the development of "clean" energy (OLED, olet and solar cells), photocatalysis use (purification of air and water, degradation of pollutants), etc.

List of beneficiaries

The list of beneficiaries, the names of providers and their projects, and the amount of public funding for projects is being made publicly available, each year in February, in line with Article 7 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 and the European Transparency Initiative (COCOF April 23, 2008).